


He Really Loved Us

by PJOwriter



Series: He really loved us [1]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Pneumonia, possible depression, sentimentality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:34:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27330550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PJOwriter/pseuds/PJOwriter
Summary: After Combeferre's sudden death from pneumonia, Courfeyrac and Enjolras are struggling.
Relationships: Combeferre & Courfeyrac & Enjolras (Les Misérables)
Series: He really loved us [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2172285
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9





	He Really Loved Us

**Author's Note:**

> I should have been working on my numerous other WIPs, but I was sad, so I wrote this.

Today marked the one month anniversary of the worst day of Enjolras's life. The day his best friend died. It had been pneumonia, caused by a powerful, antibiotic resistant strain of bacteria that Combeferre must have picked up while working at the hospital. It wasn't fair, Enjolras thought. Combeferre was young and strong. He wasn't supposed to die. They had all thought it was just the flu or something, until Combeferre started struggling to breathe, and his fever got very high. 

Enjolras remembered their frantic drive to the hospital. Courfeyrac had cursed at red lights. Enjolras had stroked Combeferre's hair and told him everything would be alright. He remembered calling Combeferre's mother. He remembered seeing Combeferre hooked up to tubes and wires. 

He hadn't been there at the end. Combeferre's mother had insisted that he and Courfeyrac should go home and rest, after he'd almost passed out from exhaustion. Courfeyrac had been the one to answer the phone when it rang a few hours later. Enjolras had watched Courfeyrac's face crumple, and he knew what had happened even before Courfeyrac choked out "he's gone."

Courfeyrac had cried almost constantly since then. Enjolras hadn't. He went through the days in a state of numb emptiness. He barely ate or slept, much to the concern of his friends. 

Tonight, he sat on the couch. There were so many things he should be doing. Stuff for school and les Amis. Or even just cleaning his room (it was a mess) or brushing the tangles from his long, blond hair. But he couldn't bring himself to do them. He did go to school every day, but he was barely passing his classes. 

He finally stirred, turning on the t.v. and flipping through channels, just to end the silence. Jeopardy was on. Combeferre's favorite. Enjolras turned the tv off. 

He turned as Courfeyrac walked through the door, holding bags of groceries and a couple of chinese takeout boxes. Courfeyrac's eyes were red rimmed and his hair was windblown. "Hey" he said to Enjolras. "I brought food." 

"I'm not hungry." 

Courfeyrac sighed and sat on the couch beside Enjolras. "Have you eaten today?"

"No." 

Courfeyrac wrapped an arm around Enjolras. "Come on, man, you have to take care of yourself. Combeferre wouldn't want this." 

"That's what everyone says." 

"Then you should listen to them. Just eat a little." 

Enjolras ate, but barely tasted the food. 

"I saw a moth today" Courfeyrac said a bit later. "A big brown one. I took a picture to show him and ask him what kind it was… but then I remembered." He sounded on the verge of tears again. He stood and took the boxes to the trash, then sat back down, and reached over to Enjolras, starting to gently attempt to untangle Enjolras's hair with his fingers. "Enjolras, I think we should move" he said suddenly. "This place was Combeferre's before it was ours, and I can hardly bear to stay here. The lease will be up soon, anyway." 

Enjolras hesitated before answering, glancing at Combeferre's closed bedroom door. "That's not a bad idea." He was silent for a moment. "We would have to clean out his bedroom." He said. 

"It has to be done sometime" Courfeyrac said. 

Later that night, Enjolras lay sleeplessly in bed, staring at the wall. He heard his bedroom door creak open. "Courf?" He asked. "You okay?" 

"Had a nightmare" Courfeyrac answered hesitantly. "Can I stay with you?" 

Enjolras scooted over. "Yeah, of course." Courfeyrac came over and curled up beside him. Eventually, Enjolras heard Courfeyrac's breathing even out. Soon after, he fell asleep himself. 

A few weeks later, Courfeyrac and Enjolras had decided for sure that they were going to move. Today, they were cleaning out Combeferre's room. They separated things into boxes. Things to keep, things to donate, things to throw away, and things to send back to Combeferre's parents. Courfeyrac was taking out the clothes from Combeferre's closet. Enjolras saw a box under the bed and pulled it out. He slowly opened it. On top, there was a paper fan from Feuilly. Next was one of Grantaire's sketches. Then, a couple of Jehan's poems. There was the program from Enjolras and Courfeyrac's High School graduation, and the one from Combeferre's own graduation. There were several course maps and certificates and sports banquet programs from Combeferre's time running middle and high school cross country. Under that was a notebook. Curious, Enjolras opened it. His eyes widened. It was a journal, with dates from when Combeferre was in third grade and Enjolras and Courfeyrac were in first. Enjolras flipped through it, reading random sentences. 

_ Today, I played with Enj and Fey. We pretended to be astronauts. It was a lot of fun.  _

_ Enj is getting so good at his reading! I'm so proud of him. _

_ The doctor says Fey has ADHD. I'm not exactly sure what that is. But I'm going to learn as much as I can about it, so I can help him. He has to take medicine now, but he hates it.  _

_ Today was Halloween! Fey, Enj, and I were all pirates, but I was the captain. We got lots of candy.  _ (There was a photograph tucked in between the pages there. The three of them in pirate costume, grinning wildly at the camera). 

_ Fey has a stomach bug, so Enj had to go to school without him for the first time ever. He was nervous. He says the other kids think he's weird. I understand how he feels, because the kids in my grade say I'm weird too. But we'll be okay. They don't know what they're talking about.  _

_ Enj got stung by a bee today. His hand swelled up so much! My mom says he's allergic.  _

_ I got in trouble in class today, for reading my book when I wasn't supposed to be. My teacher took the book until the end of the day!  _

Enjolras reluctantly put the journal aside, and looked at the other papers in the box. An old, tattered piece of construction paper, with a poorly drawn birthday cake and the words HAPY BRTHDAY FERRE! In a childish scrawl. Another with three stick figures, one of which had a head surrounded by what looked like a billowy yellow cloud. Another with a blobby, misshapen butterfly. Enjolras sucked in a shaky breath. These were drawings they had given him when they were little kids. Had he kept them all? "Courf…" he said. "Come here." 

Courfeyrac came over and saw what Enjolras was looking at. He smiled slightly. 

"He really loved us" Enjolras choked out. 

Courfeyrac wrapped his arms around Enjolras. "Yes… but we already knew that". 

Suddenly, Enjolras was sobbing. Courfeyrac rubbed his back, murmuring reassuringly. Tears rolled down his own cheeks. 

When Enjolras had calmed enough to speak, he said, his voice trembling, "He'll never get to see us graduate from college… he'll never get to become a fully fledged doctor.." 

Courfeyrac stroked his hair. "And he'll never ramble about obsure science facts…"

"Or get excited about moths…"

"Or take care of us when we're sick…" 

"Or help me write a speech…"

"Or ruffle my hair and call me Fey…" 

Both were silent for a few minutes. 

"I really miss him" Enjolras whispered. 

"I do too" Courfeyrac told him. "But you know what? We're going to be okay. And we're going to make the world better, just like he wanted." 

Enjolras nodded. "You bet we are." 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
